Planar faced ball catching and throwing paddle



Jan. 30, 1968 w LINDHOLM ET AL 3,366,386

PLANAR FACED BALL CATCHING AND THROWING PADDLE Filed May 18, 1964 E 5 l 1527 3012621167 WLZZZdZZQZm v HL z'zzd/zglm M m WAHWRNEYS United States Patent 3,366,386 PLANAR FACED BALL CATCHING AND TIROWDIG PADDLE Donald W. Liudholm, 15929 S. Grove, Oak Forest, Ill. 60452, and William H. Lindholin, 8514 W. 119th Place, Palos Park, Ill. 60464 Filed May 18, 1964, Ser. No. 368,043 2 Claims. (Cl. 27396) This invention relates to a game of skill and exercise utilizing round wooden one-sided paddles, a relatively large diameter hollow resilient ball and a court defining separated playing stations or boxes for the participants. More particularly this invention deals with a game of skill played by two persons wherein a rubber or plastic ball of 6 to 8 inches in diameter is passed between the players by balancing the ball on a flat surface of a paddle and then throwing the ball to the opponent who must receive it on his paddle, balance it and return it without leaving his box or station which is generally a six foot square marked by tape. The player stations or boxes are generally spaced about 12 feet apart.

According to this invention there is now provided a game of skill which can be played quite strenuously for exercise wherein a large rubber ball is passed between two players who must remain in a playing station or box, receive the ball on a paddle which is not adapted for batting or striking the ball. The receiver balances the ball, without touching it, on the paddle until he has it under sufiicient control to throw it to his opponent where it must be either caught and returned by the opponent or dropped into the box or station. The failure of the server to drop an unplayed ball into the opponents station results in loss of service. A miss is also declared on a received ball when the receiver catches the ball, balances it on his paddle but steps out of his box before returning it. If a receiver attempts to catch the ball on his paddle that is obviously outside of his box and misses it, the miss is called on the server. Whenever a receiver misses a point it is added to the servers score and the game score can be 11 points or more.

A feature of the game of this invention is to receive and control the ball on the paddle before throwing it back to the opponent inasmuch as the paddles of this invention will not operate as a bat to to their inherent dampening capacity.

Another feature of the paddles for the game of this invention is their ability to meet the ball with a sharp rap causing it to bounce thereon and then settle down so that the player will gain more control of the ball before flinging it back to his opponent.

Another feature of the invention is to provide a tape court for a game which is easily installed on a lawn to provide properly separated playing stations or boxes.

It is then an object of this invention to provide a game played with a large rubber or plastic ball, dampening paddles, and a court layout defining separated playing stations or boxes.

Another object of this invention is to provide a onesided dampening paddle for a game.

Another object is to provide an easily applied taped court for a game.

A specific object is to provide a wooden one-sided paddle capable of receiving a hollow large diameter rubber or plastic ball with dampening action that will quickly settle the ball thereon enabling the player to fling it back to his opponent.

Other and further objects of this invention will be apparent to those skilled in this art from the following detailed description of the annexed sheet of drawings which, by way of a preferred example only illustrates one embodiment of the invention.

On the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a top plan view of the paddle for the game of this invention.

FIGURE 2 is a bottom plan view of the paddle.

FIGURE 3 is a side elevational view of the paddle.

FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary exploded view showing the manner in which the shaft members of the paddle are mounted in the handle and paddle head.

FIGURE 5 is a plan view of the court for the game of this invention.

FIGURE 6 is an enlarged cross sectional view along the line VIVI of FIG. 5.

FIGURE 7 is an enlarged cross sectional view on the line VIIVII of FIG. 5.

As shown on the drawings:

The paddle 10 of FIGS. 1 to 3 is composed of a circular wooden disk 11, a central wooden head 12, a pair of wooden shafts 13, a wooden handle 14 and a plastic grip 15 on the handle.

The disk 11 is preferably composed of plywood of three or more plies to provide rigidity while at the same time having a damping capacity. Hard or soft wood may be used but birchwood has been found to be quite effective. The disk 11 is preferably 8 inches in diameter and inch thick. The top face of the paddle is smooth but not slippery or highly polished so that it will provide a playing surface having some gripping effect on a hollow rubber or plastic ball B. The prefered ball for the game of this invention is 6 inches in diameter and of medium hardness so as to be depressed and somewhat smothered when struck hard by the paddle. It is desired that the ball and paddle playing face cooperate to accommodate quieting a bouncing ball so that it may quickly come under control of the player who can throw it back to his opponent.

The exact center of the back face of the disk 11 has secured thereon a wooden plug or head disk which is much thicker than the paddle disk 11. A preferred head 12 for an 8 inch diameter paddle is 2% inches in diameter. The preferred thickness for the head 12 on a inch thick paddle disk 11 is of an inch.

The wooden shafts 13 for the preferred head are /a of an inch in diameter and their exposed lengths between the head 12 and the handle 14 is preferably about 4% inches. It will be especially noted from FIG. 3 that the shafts do not contact the paddle disk 12 being carried sufiiciently beneath the disk by the head 12 to accommodate some deflection without contact.

The handle 14 is also composed of wood and has an enlarged end head 14a with a smaller diameter stem extension 14b. The head 14:: is preferably about an inch and a half in diameter and of similar length while the stem is about 4 /2 inches long and of sufliciently smaller diameter so that when the rubber or plastic grip 15 is secured over the stem the overall diameter will still be slightly less than the head diameter.

The grip 15 is a tube fitting snugly over the stem 14b and having finger receiving recesses 15a spaced along its length and separated by ridges projecting from the back face of the grip. This provides an easily grasped handle with recesses for receiving each finger so that the handle is held against turning in the hand.

As illustrated in FIG. 4 the head 14a has holes 16 drilled perpendicularly to the end face of the head for substantially the entire length of the head. These holes are centered on the equator of the head and are spaced from the center to provide a substantial gap 17 therebetween. The shafts 13 are inserted for the full depth of these holes 16 and are cemented or glued in the holes to securely unite the shafts to the handle. The shafts in their free state extend in spaced parallel relation from the end of the head and are separated along their entire length by the width of the gap 17 between the holes 16. The back plug or head 12 has holes drilled inwardly from the circumference thereof midway between the end faces. These holes are illustrated at 18 in FIG. 4 and have entrance ends 18a spaced further apart than the space between the free projected shafts 12. From these entrance ends or mouths 18a, the holes 18 diverge outwardly at an angle to accommodate the ends of the shafts 13 as they are spread apart and fed to the bottom of the holes '18.'Thus the shafts 13 are flared outwardly and as illustrated in FIG. 2 are stressed from their free state position of FIG. 4. This shaft construction is important to impart sulficient rigidity to the paddle disk 11 so that it will not freely twist relative to the handle 14. At the same time however the shafts are sufficiently resilient to accommodate deflection of the paddle disk 11 to act as a dampener for quickly settling a ball received thereon. The ends of the shafts 13 are cemented or glued securely in the holes 18 and the head or plug 12 is securely cemented or glued to the back face of the paddle disk 11.

From the above description of a paddle it should be understood that the ball receiving face of the disk 11 is supported only at its back central area through shaft means which do not contact the disk. This suspension arrangement imparts some resiliency to the paddle for minimizing its batting capacity while enhancing its damping characteristics for quieting or settling the ball.

In FIG. the reference numeral 20 designates generally a court or playing field for the game of this invention. The court includes separated playing stations or boxes 21 and 22 each about six foot square (6 feet on each side). These boxes or playing stations 21 and 22 are separated by a central zone 23 which is about 12 feet long although this distance may be lengthened or shortened as desired to vary the force necessary to throw the ball between the two boxes and to adapt the game to younger childern.

The court 20 is composed of four woven tapes 24 defining the box or stations 21 and 22 secured at their ends to metal rings 25. Two spacer tapes 26 may be provided to define the separation of the boxes 21 and 22 but may be eliminated if desired. Each tape 24 and 26 is preferably of woven web material about 1 /2 inches wide. The tapes 24 have their ends looped around the rings 25 as illustrated at 24a and have their looped ends closed by any suitable fasteners 27 such as stitching, rivets, grommets, cement bonds, or the like. The rings 24 at the four corners of the playing boxes 21 and 22 are anchored to the ground by stakes 28 having hook-like top ends 28a overlying the rings as illustrated in FIG. 6.

As shown in FIG. 7 the spacer tapes 26 can have looped ends 26a around the rings 25 with the loops being closed by any one of a row of spaced detachable fasteners 29 along the lengths of the tapes near the ends thereof. Thus the tape 26 can be completely removed or can be adjusted in length by selection of a fastener 29 for varying the distance between the boxes 21 and 22.

From the above description of FIGS. 5 to 7 it will thus be understood that the court or playing field for the game of this invention provides spaced square areas or boxes in which the players must remain to be in scoring position and, if desired, these areas can be separated a desired distance by spacer tapes adjustably anchored at their ends to the forward corners of the boxes. The tapes are easily anchored in the ground by means of stakes overlying the connecting rings for the tapes.

Although various minor modifications might be suggested by those versed in the art, it should be understood that we wish to embody within the scope of the patent granted hereon all such embodiments as reasonably and properly come within the scope of my contribution to the art.

We claim as our invention:

1. A game paddle which comprises a flat, plywood disk having an unobstructed ball receiving playing face and a back face, a wooden plug secured to the back face and covering only the central area thereof, a pair of wooden shafts secured in the wooden plug and extending laterally from the periphery thereof in spaced relation from the plane of the disk, and a gripping handle secured to the extended ends of the shafts, said shafts being spread apart in non-parallel relation between the handle and the plug to impart torsional resistance against turning of the disk relative to the handle.

2. A game paddle which comprises a plywood disk about eight inches in diameter and about one quarter inch thick, a Wooden plug about two and one-half inches in diameter secured to the center of the back face of the plywood disk and having a thickness of about three quarters of an inch, a pair of holes in said plug diverging from the plug periphery, a wooden handle having a head portion laterally spaced from the circumference of the disk and a stern portion projecting from the head, a plastic tube on the stem portion having finger grips along the length thereof, said head having a pair of holes therethrough on the equator line thereof and spaced together closer than the holes in the plug, and a pair of wooden shafts having their opposite ends secured in the plug and handle head holes and spread apart under stress from closely spaced relation at the handle head to widely spaced relation at the plug for imparting twist resistance between the disk and handle.

References Cited FOREIGN PATENTS 470,279 12/ 1950 Canada. 657,456 2/ 1963 Canada. 690,270 4/ 1953 Great Britain.

ANTON O. OECHSLE, Primary Examiner.

M. R. PAGE, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A GAME PADDLE WHICH COMPRISES A FLAT, PLYWOOD DISK HAVING AN UNOBSTRUCTED BALL RECEIVING PLAYING FACE AND A BACK FACE, A WOODEN PLUG SECURED TO THE BACK FACE AND COVERING ONLY THE CENTRAL AREA THEREOF, A PAIR OF WOODEN SHAFTS SECURED IN THE WOODEN PLUG AND EXTENDING LATERALLY FROM THE PERIPHERY THEREOF IN SPACED RELATION FROM THE PLANE OF THE DISK, AND A GRIPPING HANDLE SECURED TO THE EXTENDED ENDS OF THE SHAFTS, SAID SHAFTS BEING SPREAD APART 